Life is an adventure written one day at a time. If we’re lucky, it’s a long adventure – filled with what we make of it.

As I get older, time seems to pass quicker than ever, just as all my elders have always said. Some days are easy, and others are not; and what I have realised is how important it is to get out there and create memories whenever you can. No matter how long your life, and even though many of the days may feel long, the years will feel short. When you pack them with moments (big or little) it’s easier to recall where all the time went, and how we have grown and changed with each month and year.

I want to seize the moments, and create as many of them as I can to weave a life full of memories for us all to look back on.

Travelling as a family isn’t always easy; there are lots of moments that feel pretty ordinary at the time. But there are lots of moments that are amazing, and seeing new places and old faces is part of what makes our years memorable. We are at that stage of our lives where the children are growing quicker than we can believe, and I can almost blink and see how quickly they will be teenagers and adults, I’m sure it is all going to happen before we feel ready. So we continue to live trying to make new adventures, write some of our own stories and take as many opportunities as we can, because even those ‘ordinary’ moments (you know, the ones that feel stressful or just down-right absurd at the time) become pretty good stories to re-tell in the end.

Staying in AirBnBs is a must for us now, being in a real apartment or house helps you feel at home no end, plus you can cook a meal that everyone will like and all sleep in separate beds, and pretend you live in your new town so much easier than you ever can from a hotel room.

I also like to take a new activity with us when we travel – a new magazine for the kids or a book or a game that we haven’t read or played with before. If we come across a new discovery while we are away, then these are our souvenirs – magazines or card games in different languages (with us translating and guessing at what the rules are) and visits to countless secondhand bookstores have created some of our favourite times while we are away. I also always have a little bottle of bush flower emergency essence in my purse, a couple of drops on the tongue has magically saved us many a time.

But probably my number one travelling tip is to always have some little thing to eat in your bag; you never know when you will be unavoidably delayed and hunger will strike. I can’t tell you how many times a snack has saved one of us from a melt down – big and little alike – so while I sometimes ‘joke’ by referring to myself as the family pack horse, I am always glad when something from my stash saves the day.

One of our latest travelling snacks was this delicious banana bread, inspired by the latest Green Kitchen Stories book – Green Kitchen at Home – which I picked up in the airport bookstore. It’s a gorgeous book filled with healthy home food, and includes a recipe for chocolate banana bread which was easy enough to whip up in our AirBnB apartment. I made a few substitutions and ended up with a delicious gluten free, sugar free and dairy free banana bread, flecked with dark chocolate chips and dried black mulberries. A little slice here and there kept us going as we adventured for the next few days, and on the late plane ride back home.

Travelling Banana Bread

with Dark Chocolate Chips and Black Mulberries

I made two loaves, one to share at a family picnic and the other to travel with us as we road-tripped around – nothing like a slice of banana bread to keep you going on a long afternoon drive, or to revive you with a cup of tea when you finally get there. I was lucky enough to find a health food store with a bulk-foods section whilst walking around town, so I could buy just a scoop of this and a scoop of that, perfect to whip up a single recipe rather than stocking an entire pantry. We still had a few ingredients leftover at the end of our trip, which is inevitable, so what we couldn’t bring back home we left in a box for the owners of our AirBnB – and shared our food with some new friends.

This loaf freezes well, I actually froze the second loaf pre-sliced and then used it as a travelling ice-brick to help keep our veggies cool on a day long car ride to our next destination – I then kept the loaf in the fridge and took out a couple of slices for the snack bag each day, to help fuel our adventures. You can also halve the ingredients if you’d rather make just one loaf.

In a medium sized bowl mash the bananas, then add in the eggs, oil, vanilla paste and xylitol, whisking with the fork until well combined. Stir through the dry ingredients and finally fold through the dried mulberries and chocolate chips.

Divide the mixture between the two tins, and top with some sliced banana if using. Bake in the oven for 35 – 45 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the loaf comes out clean. Allow the loaf to cool slightly in the tin before cutting. Delicious warm or at room temperature, with or without a smearing of butter.

If you’d like to read some simple tips about travelling with children, A Cup Of Jo had a great blog post about it this past week – because sometimes simple tips are the best. Feeling prepared can make the idea of travel seem a whole lot easier, especially if you’ve got kids in tow. Happy travels!

Instructions

1

Preheat your oven to 180°C and line two loaf tins with baking paper.

2

In a medium sized bowl mash the bananas, then add in the eggs, oil, vanilla paste and xylitol, whisking with the spoon until well combined. Stir through the dry ingredients and finally fold through the dried mulberries and chocolate chips.

3

Divide the mixture between the two tins, and top with some sliced banana if using. Bake in the oven for 35 - 45 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the loaf comes out clean. Allow the loaf to cool slightly in the tin before cutting. Delicious warm or at room temperature, with or without a smearing of butter.

hello there

Hi, I'm Amber. I love cooking real food and sharing it with the people I love. I think making good food is one of the easiest ways we can nourish each other, and the world around us. I'm all about food and how it can make you feel. Let's connect, one meal at a time.